Armed men rob money exchange in Karama

Dubai: In a daylight robbery, masked gunmen raided a money exchange in Karama before fleeing with a huge amount of cash on Sunday, an exchange official and an eyewitness told Gulf News.

A senior official of Al Razouki Exchange, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Gulf News: “The robbers entered the exchange’s Karama branch at about 4.30pm and within a minute decamped with all the day’s cash, which could be around Dh1 million. A CCTV camera showed that the suspects were inside for approximately a minute. Following the incident, the general manager of the branch called the police and they are still assessing the situation.”

A police comment was not immediately available.

Meanwhile, a 50-year-old Pakistani restaurant worker, who was inside the exchange when the incident happened, said five men armed with pistols rushed in to exchange.

“It was all over in around five minutes. They sprayed the counter staff and customers with a gas that made us teary and start coughing. One of the gunmen was shouting ‘hurry, hurry’ to his partners in English. I couldn’t make out his accent,” he told Gulf News.

“One of them pointed a black pistol at me and told me to stop,” he said, adding that another customer walked out as the gunmen entered.

“One of them took cash from the counter and put it into a black bag and they all fled together, disappearing into an alley between the exchange and the building besides it,” the eyewitness said.

“I walked out immediately after them and sat coughing on the pavement. The alarm was sounding and police arrived within minutes,” he added.

Hours later, at around 8pm, police and plainclothes investigators were still at the scene. The exchange entrance was cordoned off and officials were talking to employees.

“There was at least one Filipina and two Indian women employees and a cashier inside when I was there, besides two other customers. I wasn’t scared, everything was happening too fast,” the customer said.

An employee of another branch of the exchange said the Karama branch “is closed today because of a security problem”.

Al Razouki Exchange was founded in 1981 by a group of Indian businessmen, according to the company website. The company has over a dozen branches in the UAE.

Armed robberies are uncommon, but not unheard of in the UAE.

Police have responded to criminal incidents involving weapons in the last several years, mostly involving banks, money exchanges or places of business.

In March this year, a Filipina wearing a niqab was arrested after a botched armed robbery of an Abu Dhabi money exchange using a fake gun and a knife.

In September 2014, a gang of five suspects conducted an armed robbery using a fake gun at Al Mustaqbal money exchange on Shaikh Rashid Bin Humaid Road in Ajman. The gang of Nigerians allegedly stole Dh275,000 in various foreign currencies. The five suspects were later arrested.

In October 2013, three suspects conducted a daring daylight robbery of millions of dirhams from security guards, who were restocking automatic teller machines (ATMs) at Lulu Village in Muhaisnah area and made off with two cash boxes containing Dh2 million.

With inputs from Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary, Senior Reporter